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This is the only poem I’ve ever written. I wrote it after my wife passed away. It feels good to share a piece of me with the world. 

Poem

My name is Michael Anthony

The name I received at birth 

I had it beaten into me

For what it’s really worth

I took my lumps like any kid

I smiled when I was sad

There’s no excuse for what he did

I hated my step dad

I raised myself out in the street

That’s how I got my style

Deadly with my hands and feet

No normal juvenile

We moved around alot 

I wanted mom to stay 

A criminal, I soon was caught

And sent to C.Y.A

Know for breaking body parts

The power was a rush

Highly skilled in martial arts

They came to call me Crush

Too big for C.Y.A to hold

Too dangerous to like

Prison made me twice as bold

They called me Silent Mike

Not because I’m quiet

Or lack something to say

It’s the silence of my violence

And my quiet getaways

Parole meant I could do more crimes

But then I met my wife

Her soul knew mine from ancient times

That woman changed my life

We had three children thankfully

Two daughters and a son

Mika, Stone and Sami. D.

For them my heart had come undone

They taught me how be a man

To be a loving dad

A husband who would make

To give them the things I never had

The violence was inside of me 

But under tight control

Through different eyes I learned to see

I filled the family role

But being me I had my toys

Fast cars and lots of drugs

I always raised a lot of noise

My homeboys were all thugs

I went out for an easy deal

To simply sell a gun

But things quickly became surreal

And I was on the run

I’d crushed again to save myself

Though Silent Mike was dead

Ironic that to save myself 

I lost myself instead

I saw my family one more time

Before they captured me

The media hyped up the crime

And lied about me on T.V.

My family mostly paid the cost

My children and my wife

And when I went to trial I lost

They gave me seventy-nine to life

And tragedy had just begun

No pain can comprehend

In wreckage lives had come undone

And that was not the end

But I have learned humility 

And patience, and respect

At last I’m finally being me 

The one I most neglect

The future surely holds more pain

But I have an iron will

I’m Michael Anthony again

A work in progress still.

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